Pawn Inclination
Pawn Inclination is a characteristic of pawns that affects their behaviors in the field and in battle. Inclinations can vary from bravely aggressive, to protective of other pawns and the Arisen; and from cautious to adventurous. There are nine possible inclinations. Inclinations are an easily overlooked and important aspect of pawn behavior. Overview A Pawn's inclination assists in dictating the behavior of a Pawn, mostly when in combat. Main Pawn inclinations are initially decided by answering questions during character creation. Inclinations can be modified at any time by using the Knowledge Chair found at Inns and Rest Camps, or directly and most efficiently by using the Inclination Elixirs, which are purchased from Johnathan in the Encampment. The primary and secondary inclinations are shown in the stats menu ingame, under "Profile". Inclinations generally only affect likely actions, but in a few cases introduce new behavior. Generally inclinations causes prioritization of related actions when there are multiple action options available. It is thought only the Primary and Secondary inclinations affect behavior. Generally primary will override the secondary effect, if both behaviors are possible. In some cases only having an inclination in the primary spot will unlock certain behaviors. The effect of the "Tertiary" or the other lower ranked inclinations on behavior is unknown, but it is likely that they are ignored. Temporal and battle effects Inclinations change periodically over time - there are four main causes of changes to a pawn's inclinations: *Battle actions - including which can include : the type of enemy attacked first, enemies slain, actions such as grapple *Debilitation and healing - becoming debilitated, curing ailments, taking great damage, and healing harm *Pawn commands - each of the three pawn commands "Go", "Come", and "Help" will modify some inclination's likeliness; the effects sometimes depend on whether issued in battle or not. *Hired pawns and their inclinations: the Arisen's main pawn will slowly drift towards hired pawn's inclinations over time (Hired Pawn inclinations do not alter over time.) For each type of action inclinations can only be raised a certain amount in a fixed period. Once that period is over the first new action may raise an inclination again. Because of this, defeating many enemies in short order may have a minimal effect on inclinations, whereas a long drawn out battle with the same foes can alter inclinations far more. Some other actions such as picking up loot affect specific inclinations each time the action is performed. Knowledge Chair Whilst talking in the Knowledge Chair a pawn may ask which of two inclinations to prioritize: this swaps the Secondary inclination and the otherwise invisible 'Tertiary' inclination. This action also slightly reinforces the Primary inclination and slightly disfavors all the others. Inclination Elixirs Consuming a single inclination elixir promotes the associated inclination to Secondary, or if it was already the Secondary inclination, promotes it to Primary. Taking more inclination elixirs for a behavior already in the primary position reinforces its position, as well as moving other inclinations down. The Neutralizing Elixir resets all inclinations to a middle value of 500. Inclinations * Generally Utilitarian inclination's score always decreases in battle. Pawn chatter Pawns indicate their specific inclination behavior by shouting various lines of dialogue. Several examples are: Scather :"I'll leave the weak foes to you." :"I'll begin with the strongest." :"The first strike shall be mine!" Challenger :"The ranged ones are mine!" :"I'll take down the most troublesome of them." Mitigator :"I'll take care of the weak." :"Leave these to me." :"I'll get the weaklings out of the way." Medicant : "Think well before striking." : "Just wait, we'll see a weakness." Utilitarian :"I'll support you!" :"You've my support." :"This should change the stakes." Nexus :"I'll give aid." :"I'll bolster our defenses." :"I'll not allow harm to befall my allies." Guardian :"I'll protect you Arisen." :"Arisen, I am at your side." :"Any that would target the Arisen are mine!" Acquisitor :"That item is mine." :"Never mind the monsters, I'll take the loot!" Troubleshooting The only inclination that is incompatible with certain parties is Guardian. Specifically, a Guardian pawn will not attack if the Arisen is not threatened by melee attacks, making it generally incompatible with distant attacking styles including both bow, longbow, and magick bow; and ranged spellcasting. The problem is further compounded by the Guardian attracting random foes to the Arisen's vicinity, which is especially troublesome when said monster is a club wielding cyclops. (Guardian is generally good support for Arisen melee vocations like Fighter and Warrior.) Nexus can cause similar behavior to Guardian though it is rarely not so problematic. The Nexus pawn will actively battle as long as the other pawns are in battle. The exception is if all the other pawns are Guardian which leads to all congregating around the Arisen. This becomes a problem if the Arisen is a ranged attacker. Many perceived pawn behavior problems including unncecessary/inappropriate climbing, excessive rolling, constantly running away or around, or canceling spells before completion cannot be fixed by tweaking inclinations. Creature associations Most types of foes are associated with an inclination type. In general : * Mitigator corresponds to small foes * Challenger to ranged foes including spellcasters, bow users, and stone throwers * Scather - giant foes including giant saurians, poisoned undead and bigger. Pawns of a specific inclination will only attack a creature matching their favored inclination when present. Battle actions such as the first foe targeted promote the inclination associated with that foe, and similarly promoted when foes are defeated, though in some cases the inclination change depends on the type of attack used: e.g., a Wraith defeated by ranged attacks promotes Challenger, however, a Wraith defeated by melee attacks promotes Scather. Additionally, the classification of foes in terms of inclination change may also depend on the other enemies present; killing a Frostwyrm may promote Mitigator in the presence of a stronger Firedrake, but if the Drake is defeated, then killing the Wyrm promotes Scather. However, attacks on different Chimera heads are thought to promote certain inclinations (Lion - Scather, Snake - Mitigator, Goat - Challenger), the reverse is not true; Challenger pawns do no seem to specifically target the Goat's head, instead, Bestiary knowledge promotes attacking the Snake head first. Notes *Pawn commands temporally override Pawn inclinations. For example, a Nexus pawn will target a foe near the Arisen when "Help" is requested, but once the foe is slain they return to their pawn allies. *With Scather or Nexus as 1º, pawns stand further away from the Arisen when idling. In the 2º position there is no effect. Pioneer as 1º or 2º has the same distancing effect. All other inclinations cause the pawn to stand right next to the Arisen. *When a pawn triggers a Great Cannon sigil with their own attacks Utilitarian is raised. *Occasionally the pawn AI will experience a random glitch or bug where one inclination will be instantly promoted. This is theorized to be a residual effect carried over from old data; this can happen when rents are received, or in response to a d-pad order. Doesn't affect inclinations: *Use of stamina curatives isn't known to increase or decrease any inclination. *Picking up objects raises Acquisitor; opening chests or gathering does not. *Bestiary knowledge actions during battle don't increase Utilitarian. *Pawn commands affect inclinations once every half minute. Spamming the command button during that period is no different from pressing it once in terms of inclination change. *There's a limit to the increase from some pawn commands; for example, "Go" only increases Pioneer to 70% of its maximum value after which Pioneer is no longer promoted. *Sneak attacks when foes are not alerted to the party's presence have no effect on inclination. *Reviving an Unconscious pawn doesn't promote Nexus, however the loss of health will likely have raised the inclination anyway. *Draining stamina totally doesn't affect inclinations. See also *For an even more detailed look see Pawn Inclination : Under the Hood Category:Concepts Category:Pawns *